However, some of the details in the WSJ report are bewildering. For instance:

Apple is now considering adding USB ports and adopting so-called USB 3.0 technology, a much faster version that promises to transfer data up to 10 times as rapidly as current USB ports, one of the people said.

Later in the article:

The company has also been considering adding ports to connect to a keyboard and mouse, the people said.

If you follow Apple rumors, these details seem unlikely. First, a Microsoft Surface–style traditional USB port on a tablet would almost certainly compromise an iOS device’s thinness. Second, Apple has been moving away from mice — even on its desktops — for years, preferring trackpad gestures.

That’s why I believe the supply chain details in the WSJ need some translation. The “USB 3.0″ technology mentioned could be referring to reversible USB Type C ports. Apple has been tipped to be considering the skinny next-gen connector as the primary port and charger for a future MacBook, and if that were to happen, I think it would make sense to bring Apple’s MagSafe replacement to the bigger iPad, which could have power needs closer to a desktop than a smartphone. The question then becomes whether the USB port replaces the Lightning connector, which is the existing charge and sync port for iOS devices.

The Wall Street Journal says the advantage USB 3.0 provides is faster wired data transfers, which doesn’t strike me as a particular weakness of the existing iPad. However, it also mentions new technology to speed up charging times, which would be welcome.

The keyboard and mouse details are equally confusing. It wouldn’t be a surprise if Apple introduced a keyboard case — many Android and Windows tablets already have first-party keyboard cases, and the success of iPad keyboard accessories shows there’s a market there. But an Apple mouse would require significant changes to iOS to adapt it to an older form of input, which seems unlikely. I think the mouse is more likely to be the iOS smart stylus that was previously rumored. But even then I think there’s a better chance it’s connected through Bluetooth than through a wire.

On Wednesday, Apple was said to have delayed production of the 12.9-inch iPad until September because of supply issues. What could be causing the shortage in displays? One guess is that the delays are due to new high-density screens with a resolution around 4K. However, supply chain rumormonger Digitimes says the reason is a new display technology, Oxide TFT LCD, which has the main advantage of being more power-efficient. Apple has been said to be looking into Oxide TFT LCD technology in the past.

]]>An unannounced Apple product has been delayed, according to Bloomberg, which is reporting that production of the long-rumored 12.9-inch iPad is scheduled to start in September.

This news makes it even unlikelier that Apple will introduce its “iPad Pro” at its Apple Watch event in San Francisco next week. The report said that Apple planned to start production this month, but pushed it back because of supply issues with display panels.

The current iPad Air 2 has a 9.7-inch screen and iPad Minis have a 7.9-inch display. Although an iPad with a 12.9-inch screen has never been confirmed by Apple, there’s a lot of evidence that it exists. Questionable schematics for the device leaked in Japan late last year, and references in iOS 8 indicates that Apple has been working on a split-screen mode, which would be perfect for the device’s bigger screen.

If production starts in September, it could be a tight squeeze to get the product on shelves by Christmas. Last year, Apple announced new iPad models in October and shipped them a week later. But missing the holiday season might not matter to Apple, especially if it angles the bigger iPad as a business-oriented tablet, with a possible tie-in to its enterprise partnership with IBM.

]]>Apple’s FaceTime service is currently just a method of two-way personal communication, but it could become much more. A patent granted to Apple shows how FaceTime would work as a collaborative productivity tool, complete with data and app sharing.

This particular example also shows that FaceTime users could control what application data is shared between two parties; on the right you can see shared calendar information.

The patent describes how data controls would work — determing what can be shared based on user controls or the type of connection. ranging from specifying exactly what can be shared based on user controls or by the type of connection. Sharing a screen or an app over Wi-Fi might be preferable to sharing it over an LTE connection, for example.

Apple’s FaceTime service is only available on iOS and OS X devices, of course, so don’t expect to share your Windows Desktop or apps any time soon using FaceTime, even if Apple does implement what’s described in the patent. Besides, there are plenty of third-party apps that offer that functionality now on non-Apple devices.

]]>If you want to check out what Apple’s cooking up in the next update of iOS, you currently have to sign up for its $99 per year developer program or give your device UDID to a sketchy service in order to install public beta builds on your iPhone or iPad. That’s changing soon: According to the reliable Mark Gurman at 9to5Mac, Apple is planning to extend its Appleseed public beta program to iOS starting with version iOS 8.3 next month.

iOS 8.3 is already public and in the hands of developers. Apple is probably not going to launch a public beta of iOS 9 or other major releases before they’re announced. Gurman points out that iOS 8.4 will probably include Apple’s new streaming music service, so beta testers may get first access to the next episode of Beats Music.

Apple started offering public beta versions of its desktop OS last year, allowing Mac users to check out OS X Yosemite before it was officially launched. Not only does this keep hardcore Apple fans happy, but it can also help squash bugs, which according to anecdotal evidence, seem to be increasing in recent years due to Apple’s aggressive release schedule. Last fall, Apple pushed an embarrassing incremental iOS update that killed cellular service for many iPhone users, for instance. The OS X beta program was limited to the first million users to sign up, so it’s possible the iOS beta program will have a cap too.

Microsoft announced the software update to its OneNote application that adds the new feature on Thursday, pointing out that OneNote has actually supported digital ink since 2003. I actually didn’t need the reminder: I remember using the first iterations of OneNote way back then on a convertible Windows Tablet PC with digital stylus. I said back then — and I still believe it’s true — that OneNote is one of the best pieces of software ever to come from Microsoft.

[youtube=http://youtu.be/bOpxNVJ7tZ4]

If you’re not familiar with the app, it works similarly to Evernote, helping you capture and categorize snippets of text, screenshots, photos and other data, including audio recordings. The secret sauce of OneNote, however, has long been its excellent digital ink support, completely with OCR, or optical character recognition.

This lets the app index all information to make it fully searchable, either in the app or in OneNote Online. The latest version of OneNote for iPad doesn’t yet do that for handwritten notes but does for images. This example shows a search for “strawberries” on a receipt photo, for example.

With the latest software update to OneNote, Apple iPad owners will see a Draw option in the app. Tap it and you can draw or write with your finger or a stylus; the latter is clearly recommended. You can digitally annotate any captured content in OneNote with this feature. Microsoft even added a palm rejection feature so your hand doesn’t accidentally “write” something when using a stylus.

Again, OneNote has been around for more than a decade, so it’s not new. It is, however, possibly one of the most underrated software products Microsoft has ever developed while also being one of the most useful. It’s well worth a preview from the iTunes App Store, particularly since it’s free for your iPad.

The team behind Astropad — former Apple engineers — created their own wireless communications method to tie together the screen sharing between an iPad and a Mac. It’s called Liquid, and they say it’s actually twice as fast than Apple’s own AirPlay over Wi-Fi.

The app is capable of 60 frames per second refresh rates so everything you draw on the iPad should look equally good when rendered on the Mac. Images are also RGB color corrected on the iPad to match your Mac. Here’s a video demo to show the performance and functionality.

[youtube=http://youtu.be/ouwCHT3rGRY]

You can use Astropad with your finger, just as you would with any touchscreen iPad app, but a stylus is better. Astropad supports multiple pressure-sensitive pens, so if you already have one of those for your iPad, you can likely use it with the app.

Keep in mind that Astropad itself is really the mechanism to turn the iPad into a graphics tablet; it doesn’t replace graphics apps such as Photoshop for content creation. Instead, it enables the iPad as an interface for such apps.

The $49.99 app ($19.99 for students) is available directly from the Astropad site as of today, although you can try a free demo before buying. Your computer will need to be running Mac OS X 10.9 or better and you’ll need iOS 8 on the iPad.

]]>Since the embarrassing revelation that iCloud’s two-factor authentication didn’t actually cover many of Apple’s online services, partially responsible for a rash of leaked celebrity photos last year, Apple has been graduallyadding the security setting to many of its other services. On Thursday, users with iCloud’s two-factor authentication enabled will need to complete extra steps when logging into iMessage and FaceTime, the Guardian reported. The feature is rolling out now, but may not be available for your specific devices yet.

For users who have two-factor turned on, when you log into iMessage on a new iPhone or Mac, your Apple ID password won’t be enough to gain access. According to MacRumors, FaceTime and iMessage are using app-specific passwords, in which you generate a unique code on Apple’s website, instead of having a four-digit PIN texted to your device.

Now, a miscreant with your Apple ID password — possibly gained through phishing, other social engineering, or even a lucky guess — won’t be able to set up iMessage or FaceTime and pretend to be you without your phone. Because of the way iMessage uses encryption, simply logging into a new device doesn’t recover old iMessages, even before Apple turned on the new two-factor authentication.

]]>ESPN pushed a big update to its flagship news app for iOS on Thursday. Now simply called ESPN — ditching the “Sportscenter” appellation — the app sports a new look, WatchESPN and ESPN Radio integration, and importantly for iPad-toting sports fans, it is a universal app that works on both phones and tablets running iOS.

It’s not that you couldn’t get scores from ESPN on an iPad before — the “Worldwide Leader” had a confusingly named and poorly-reviewed iPad app called ESPN ScoreCenter XL. But the company is following a new digital strategy, announced last fall, in which it is making cuts to its lineup of apps. Previously, the company had 45 different apps for various sports niches, including separate apps focusing on fantasy leagues, radio, and individual sports like soccer. Now, the game plan is to work on fewer, more individually personalized apps.

The design language in the new iOS app is a preview of what ESPN’s new website will look like when it re-launches on April 1st. The new design emphasizes performance and speed, and is divided into three main sections: A feed for scores, a feed for news, and a new section called Now that combines social media, quick commentary, and ESPN photos and videos. The iPad version of the app sticks your favorite team logos on the bottom right hand corner of the screen for easy access. Of course, the app will still push alert notifications for scores and game starting times.

You can listen to ESPN Radio in the app, but internal WatchESPN links for live sports or highlights will send you to that service’s dedicated app, although an ESPN executive told Gigaom’s Janko Roettgers that eventually you’ll be able to play WatchESPN content in the main ESPN app.

]]>It’s not uncommon for next-generation iPhone cases to appear before actual new iPhone models. That’s because accessory makers often jockey for position to be the first to have products ready for new iPhones. And Apple may have had enough of that mad dash. According to 9to5 Mac, Apple will reportedly ban sales of such products in Apple Stores.

Citing four different sources, 9to5 Mac says that Apple sought new agreements from the top accessory makers prior to last year’s iPhone 6 and 6 Plus launch:

Vendors that balked at the agreement were told that their products would be banned from Apple’s stores in the absence of a signature. Some vendors that signed the agreement were subsequently dropped from the stores anyway, but say that they believe they remain contractually bound by its terms.

Apple offers its own accessories, of course, so it’s not unreasonable to assume it wants customers to buy cases and such from it, rather than from third parties, during the high=volume sales period following a new device launch. By keeping that window a bit more to itself through such agreements, Apple can boost its profit margins and sales during that time. And when the other accessories arrive, designed on Apple’s official specs, they can join the Apple Store sales party.

]]>After Beats was purchased in 2014, and even before then, one main question facing Apple is when the company plans to come out with a streaming music service. According to a new report from ace Apple reporter Mark Gurman at 9to5Mac, the company has been working to integrate Beats Music streaming into iOS, iTunes, and Apple TV, ahead of a launch that was planned for March, but now looks more likely to be June.

According to Gurman, Apple has decided to largely ditch the existing Beats Music brand on iPhone and iPad, instead choosing to integrate streaming features into the pre-installed Music app, which plays locally stored music and is still surprisingly popular.

One key feature for the service sounds a lot like an expansion of iTunes Match: Users will be able to upload current Beats or iTunes music libraries with the new service, which will merge those songs with iTunes in the Cloud, and users will be able to choose specific tracks or artists to download onto their iPhone or iPad’s local storage.

Although the new apps will reportedly ditch the black-and-red Beats color scheme, Apple appears poised to continue the Beats focus on human-curated playlists. Gurman also indicated that Apple may continue to try to build a music-focused social network in the Music app — remember that Apple tried and failed to do that before, with its Ping service.

Another surprise: Apple could be building a Beats Music app for Android in-house. There’s an existing Beats Music Android app, but Gurman reported that “Apple engineers are currently working on an Android app for the new Apple-branded service.” Apparently, there’s been a bit of discord stemming from the integration of Beats engineers and Apple engineers and Beats integration has been “not going so well.”

9to5Mac said a source warned them that there could be several employee departures from Apple’s services division in the near future. Remember that Apple’s core cloud infrastructure experts are distributed among teams, rather than in a single division, and pre-installing and promoting a streaming music service on up to 74.5 million iPhones a quarter would appear to require strong cloud infrastructure on the server side.

Apple has a long history in digital music going back to the introduction of iTunes. While only Apple’s board knows if Apple spent $3.2 billion on Beats for its profitable headphones business or its nascent music streaming service, this report appears to indicate that much of the software developed by Beats while it was independent has been ditched for code written by Apple. Beats headphones fit in very well with Apple’s main product lines — they’re complimentary high-margin luxury goods, whereas the Beats Music service might not have anything that Apple couldn’t have done itself, except for playlists curated by Dr. Dre’s friends.

As for pricing the service, Gurman’s report is less certain, but believes that the service could cost $7.99 a month, which would undercut the $9.99 price charge by Spotify, Google Play Music, and Rdio.